a record of the life and times here at the phillips pottery in abilene, texas.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

nearing capacity.

The first week of classes is over, it was a bit of a stressful week but I think I have everything under control. I have 3 classes this semester, about 30 students in all. When I started teaching here I had 2 half full ceramics 1 courses and no advanced students or majors. The basic classes fill up every semester now and I have a good grouping of advanced students with a couple of majors. I've really enjoyed getting to build my own program and the students have responded well. I'm honest with them and I don't pull any punches and while they piss and moan sometimes I think for them having a teacher who is real with them is a breath of fresh air.

Anyways, here is the assignment board for Cer. 1-3 with their first assignments. I give them a rather open-ended assignment to start with and it is just to get them back to work and in the groove.

I had the good fortune of getting to spend the day in the studio. I made a bunch of mugs, dinner plates and some serving bowls. You know, the usual spread. Here are some freshly slipped mugs. I'm shying away from using slips on my work for awhile, at least until I get back into the wood kiln. That may be awhile but more on that in another post.

Mugs and plates.

Plate detail. I'm really fond of these loose meandering lines.

Perhaps my favorite decorating tool is a jigsaw blade. It makes this mark along with many others.

Porcelain yunomi with feet inspired by another potter. Care to take a stab at it?

The shelves starting to fill up, it feels good. It's been a long time since they've been full.

Here is an angle I've never shown before. This is my studio from the other side, if you were sitting at the wheel. Messy isn't it? I could clean it, but I'd rather make pots.

Well that's all for now, cheers!

[This post brought to you by the PilcherBlog Post Relevance Rating System for the Elevation of Ceramics(PBPRRSEC) which rates this post as a 3.1 on the 1-10 scale.] ;)

From P.I.S. (potters interested in simplicity) This came from my friend Meredith, shorter acronym. My professors when I was in design school were brutal and I hear them in my head every day when I am making something. They were strong promoters of craftsmanship and honest about our work to the point of tears some days. It made me a better crafts person for sure, and now that I have survived their brutality I really appreciate all the critiques. Somebody has to be honest with artists, it will make them all better in the end! Good to see you back at it! also enjoying practicing with my brush, still don't know what I'm doing, but it's fun!

I had the good fortune of taking a three week vacation earlier this month, the first vacation in a very long time. Upon my return I could not help but notice how unorganized and messy my own studio had become. I've taken a few days to clean, toss, organize, add new shelves, etc. and I'm so glad I did...I'll have to play catch-up for this month's firing but the reward is that I won't be wasting time stepping over things and fruitlessly searching for stuff.

Weird how you see things from a different perspective after a bit of a break!

chris-the 125 pots is collective but they have to figure on losing half their pots in critique so it's about 60+/- each.

tracey-i never think of my critiques as brutal but i know the students do. i always let them leave after critique to let them absorb for a few hours. there is usally a collective silence and mopiness as they leave the room. that's how you know it was a good session. it's tough sometimes but it really is for the best.